They were the last ship back.Dev held the carrier, limping in on one engine, steady
as she watched the recovered vessel with it’s four passengers and the two that
had gone with them sink through the wide opening into the landing bay.

It was still raining.But it was a steady unrelenting drizzle and the winds had died down,
allowing Dev to relax as she waited.

Jess was in her seat, tapping furiously on her consoles and
pad, occasionally chuckling to herself.She seemed to be in a very good mood, and Dev
cautiously evaluated the idea that she’d done okay in their mission.

Her first one.She had, at least, brought them both back in one piece if the carrier
wasn’t, and since they’d gotten the other teams back, she figured the whole
thing might have been something of a success.

Not too bad, for someone who had only driven a sim before
now.Dev glanced at her reflection
in the curved forward shield,noting her sweat dampened hair.She raked it back and settled her hands on the controls again, the feeling
of the throttles against her palms starting to become comfortably familiar.

She moved the carrier forward, tilting the nose down a
little with a boost on the landing jets to give her a good view of the
bay.She could see clear airspace
and she leveled the craft, then increased the lower jets and cut off her main
engines.

The carrier drifted downward,clearing the bay opening and settling lower and lower into
the vast cavern.“BR27006”
She spoke softly into the comms“Requesting landing pad.”

Dev located the spot, marked with big, easily read numbers
and she adjusted the side jets to move them over, hovering above the numbers
before she cut power to the landing jets and they settled slowly into place.

There was a team waiting. She recognized a group of Ceebees,
in pale orange jumpsuits with kits and hoses in their hands and as soon as she
cut power to the drive systems, they bolted forward towards the carrier.

Two sprayed the outside down with something. “What is that?”

“Sealant.”Jess
said, still slouched in her seat.“In case we popped a line. Don’t want to blast anyone with
anything.”She now had her
hands folded over her stomach and was just relaxing.“When they make the hookup, send the logs and the
flight recorder detail over to storage.”

Dev nodded. “Yes.” She had been waiting, in fact, for
specifically that.She saw a light
come on midway up the console, and ran her fingers over the keys, accepting the
connection and setting up the synch.

Another light, and she shut down internal power, and they
went into pitch darkness for a few seconds before the external connection
kicked in and the lights came back on, along with internal ventilation now
being supplied from the dock.

It felt good, the air was cool and fresh and not full of
half baked sealant.Dev blinked a
little, and unbuckled her harness as she turned her seat around and watched the
webbing retract.

“So.” Jess regarded her.“NM-Dev-1, you can pilot a carrier.”

“Yes.” Dev smiled. “Apparently so.”

“Where’d you pick up all the upside down stuff?” Jess asked.
“I’m betting the other side’s never seen one of these do that before cause I
sure haven’t.”

Upside down?Dev frowned a little, and her head tilted to one side. “You mean this?”
She lifted one hand and tilted it back and forth.

“I mean when you were flying with the bottom of this thing
pointed skyward.” Jess explained.

“Oh.”Dev
nodded. “In space… “She pointed upward. “In the crŹche, you get to train in a
null grav sim for some of this. It’s all.. um.” She considered. “There’s no
right or wrong side up.You learn
in all dimensions.”

Jess studied her face intently for a long moment.
“Interesting.” She said, finally.“Well, I’ll tell you what, Dev.You did as well or better as anyone I’ve ever seen driving this bus. “

“Are you surprised?”

“Yes.” Jess nodded.

“Me too.” Dev replied, with an almost impish grin.“Sims are one thing, but real is
different.This was very
difficult.”She said. “Mostly
because I didn’t have any programming on what to do. They don’t give you
programs to know what to do when you are flying at a mountain with twenty
planes chasing you and shooting at you.”

“Ah.” Jess murmured. “So you just did that on instinct.”

Dev considered that carefully.“I’m not sure what that means.”

“You didn’t think about what to do.” Jess clarified. “You
just reacted. You just did it.”

Dev considered again, then nodded. She half turned as the
comm crackled, reaching over to accept a key.

“Hah.” Jess stood up and stretched. “C’mon. Let’s get the
brain hosing out of the way and go get a drink. We earned it.” She waved Dev
forward, and keyed the hatch, waiting a moment as it unsealed and popped
outward, swinging clear to let them out of the craft.

She stepped out and down to the ground, as two bio alt techs
edged past her, carrying toolkits.She waited for Dev to follow her, not missing the looks of the other bio
alts as she left the carrier past them.

Mixture of envy and awe.Jess was intrigued, but she put it aside as she turned to
regard her craft.Always a little
battered by weather and battle, this time it looked like the carrier had been
driven right through that big storm front and then right into the side of the
mountain they were currently standing inside.“Shitcakes.”

Dev turned and looked, her eyes getting big and round.
“Wow.”

Every inch of the craft was scored by fire, it’s outside a
dark and creased dappled gray.One
of the external engine pods was sliced through, dripping lurid green fluid on
the ground.There was a huge rent
right along the side, it’s end just shy of the curve of the nose where Dev had
been seated.

A man came up next to Jess, dressed in a deep orange suit.
“Holy shit, Drake. What the hell did you do to that thing?”

Jess glanced at him, bemused. “You should see what the other
guy looks like.” She said. “Sorry, Clint.Looks like a total overhaul.”

The man snorted, then seemed to notice Dev for the first
time. “Who’s this?”

“This is Dev.”Jess supplied. “She’s my p.. pilot.”She felt her tongue stutter, and felt a pang.“Wait till you see the logs.”

Clint was regarding Dev thoughtfully. “Oh, yeah. I heard
about that.” He said. “Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand. “Hope you don’t do this everytime. Too
much work.”

Jess sighed. “The way to his heart is through a hydraulic
tube c’mon.” She touched Dev’s sleeve. “They’re waiting for us in debrief.”

They walked along the marked floor, as techs and support
people swarmed around them, and the other three carriers who had just come
in.The rest of the crews
had already gone down the tunnel, so Jess wasted no more time and turned off
the rocky floor into a tall, scan equipped deep blue hallway.

She felt the tickle as she passed through, and saw Dev blink
a little. “You feel that?”

Dev looked at her. “Yes. The scan, you mean?”

“Yeah.” Jess nodded. “That’s all security.You have to be coded to go through. If
you’re not, you get enough of a blast to take you out when you’re inside. Some
places, like central command, you get more than that.”

“Oh.”

“I”ll show you the grid when we get back to quarters. We’re
coded everywhere, but not everyone is. Good to know if you’re walking with
someone outside ops.”

“I see.”

Jess led the way towards a closed automatic door, and put
her hand on the pad outside it.“Drake, J, and NM-Dev-1 for debrief.”

The pad glowed, then the door opened, and they went in.“Gotta show you the rec, and your
rad area too.” Jess commented, as they went through another door and into a
larger room, this one half full of people.“But we’ll get a drink first.”

Dev was content to follow along, listening to Jess’s
ramblings.She considered them,
cautiously optimistic that they seemed to be trending towards a tendency to let
her stay, at least for a little while.

She recognized Stephen Bock in the room, and the four agents
they’d gone with, and four people she didn’t know, along with the man with the
gun, Bain.She stopped as Jess did, and she watched
Jess spread her arms out as they all started making noises at her.

Very strange.But Jess looked pleased, so she supposed it was all right.She followed Jess over to two open
chairs and they sat down next to each other.She looked over at the man wit the gun, surprised to
find him smiling at her.

She smiled back.

“Well.”Bain
leaned back.“Welcome back, you
four.” He looked at the four people Dev didin’t know. “None the worse for wear
I see.”

“Was a little tough sir.”Sandy Tucker responded. “Me and Roger tried to make our own
diversion with our boat, but they didn’t buy it.We thought we were going to have to try and climb out when
all of a sudden they all tookoff.”

‘Right.” Jason said. “By the time we crested over the ridge
just east of them, Jess, the guards all hauled ass and it was easy peasy
getting to them and getting out. They didn’t even leave a comms watch.” He
glanced at Dev then back at Jess. “What the hell did you do to draw them off?”

‘We can roll the flight recorder.” Jess said. “Faster that
way than for me to tell it.”She
eyed Sandy. “I guess you know I blew your boat up.”

Sandy nodded. “Jase said.” She looked at the tall, very
muscular man next to her. “Mike figured that might happen.We didn’t really have any way of
broadcasting it wasn’t rigged, or that you’d believe it if we did.”

The tall man grunted. “Fuckers. They knew we were coming ,
Jess.” He looked across the table. “We came in polar, and we just cleared Gibralter
and they were on us. Chased us to the ridge and we got under cover –
blasted the ones who had the guts to come at us, but we were stuck there.”

Bain had been watching and listening, and now he cleared his
throat. “He was right.” He said, in a mild tone.“It was a damn fool idea, and now we had to put three teams
at risk just to get us back to square one.”

Mike looked sullenly at him.

“What about you?” Sandy suddenly asked, looking at Jess. “I
thought you were out.Didn’t you
stand on your pride about that?” She pointed at Dev.“Now you’re here? It’s here? What’s the deal?”

Bain cleared his throat again. “Agent Drake was thoughtful
enough to agree to my request that she remain with us.”He said.“I’m quite gratified. “ He looked at Jess. “And how is the
experiment going, Agent Drake?”

Jess remained expressionless. “I’ll let the flight recorder
speak for itself.” She remarked. “But I’ll be more than glad to continue with
it.”She folded her hands on the
table. “I like the results
so far.”

Dev’s ears perked.That sounded like a positive thing, since she strongly suspected she was
the experiment in question.

“Hmm. Indeed.”Bain’s eyes twinkled a little.“Then by all means, let’s see this recorder.”He nodded at Stephen, who was sitting in silence, just
watching everyone. “Mr. Bock. Please proceed.”

Stephen got up and went to the console, triggering the big
display in the back of the room. The panels slid open, and he adjusted the room
lights, then keyed in the recording that Dev had sent from the carrier. “Here
we go, sir.”

He sat down as the scene recorder rolled, presenting a view
from all the carrier’s sensors overlayed to produce an almost three dimensional
presentation.One one corner
was a mission clock, and on the other a base readout of the carrier’s systems.

They heard Dev’s voice quietly asking for flight access,
then the recorder started forward.

“Go to time lock 1140 loc if you want to see the other
carrier blown out.” Jess said. “And 1150 loc if you want to see the exciting
stuff.”

Bock looked atBain, who nodded. He got up and keyed in the change, and suddenly the
carrier was accelerating towards the hulk of Gibralter and the defender’s beacons
flared.

It didn’t really take that long. Dev was a little surprised
at how fast it all went once it started. When she’d been doing it, it seemed a
lot longer.She relived the
dives and rolls, nodding a little as the carrierwove it’s way through the enemy, rolling over and over as it
darted between defenders and through arcs of fire.

“Holy shit.”Sandy said, after a few minutes utter silence.

Jess sat back in her seat and smiled. She could see Bain’s
face, and even his craggy old eyes were wide and astonished, as they blasted
past Gibralter and she laid a line of fire inside their control center.Then they were past, and she
could feel her heart start accelerating as she relived their one team attack on
the heavily defended science center.

“Oh my go… whoa!”Jason yelped, as the carrier dove for the waves.

Diving, diving, the alarms going off, redlining the carrier
with all that evident on the screen as they pulled out and into that damn
rolling wave at the very last minute, the enemy behind them splashing into the
water unable to stop.

Wild.

Then she sat back, remembering the incredible pull of
gravity on her body and the ache still in her arms as she kept firing, all the
way up the escarpment and over the top into the clouds in one long, screaming,
rumbling run that ended in gray silence and the bleeting of overworked systems.

“Holy shit.” Sandy said, again.

“That’s about it.” Jess said, in as normal a voice as she
could muster. “The rest you know.”

The lights came up a little as Stephen cut the replay off,
and they all turned around and stared at the two women seated at the end of the
table.

Even Bain, his customary dismissive, offhand faćade dropped
like a rock off the cliff, his jaw hanging slightly open.

Jess smiled briefly.“Can we get the one by ones done? I owe my pilot here a drink.” She
jerked her head in Dev’s direction. “And as a matter of fact, I think you all
do too.”

Dev was absolutely not sure what response would be
appropriate, so she decided not to have any at all. She remained silent, her
hands folded on the table, a mild look on her face as the rest of the group
stared at her.

“Not bad for her first flight, huh?”Jess finally said.

Bain relaxed into his seat, and exhaled. “Indeed.”He commented. “Been a very educational
day.”

**

Dev was content to stick to Jess’s side as they all entered
a wide, low room with comfortable looking chairs.She took a seat next to Jessas she listened to the rest of them chatter, glad to be able
to participate in what was evidently a positive experience.

The other agents and techs ignored her.That was all right, from her
perspective.She was satisfied
that Jess and the man with the gun were happy with her and she was looking
forward to the moment when she could go and get in the wet thing and maybe have
a chance to read a page or two of her book.

She wondered if she could find Doctor Dan, and ask him what
he thought about the mission.She
knew a lot of the programming she’d been given was his, and she was curious if
it had turned out as he’d expected.

“Dev?”

Dev looked up. “Yes?” She reached up in reflex and took the glass she was
being handed, her eyes darting to Jess’s face in question.“Thank you.”

“You ever had booze?”Jess inquired as she watched her sip at the contents.

Dev blinked and moved the glass away. The drink was a very
strange mixture of fruits and something that fizzed and something else that
burned as she swallowed.“If
that’s what this is, then definitely not.”

Jess chuckled.

“So, how far are you going to take this?” Sandy asked,
indicating Dev.“Obviously you’re
sucking up to Bain but for how long?”

“Are you really that much of an asshole?”Jess responded.

“Takes one to know one.” Sandy shrugged.

“Then I’m going to take this all the way.” Jess steadily met
her gaze. “Dev can go as far as she’s able in this place as far as I’m
concerned.” She leaned back in her chair and extended her long legs out. “And
at least I’m not sucking up to someone who got his brains blown out for being a
moron like you were.”

“Hey c’mon.”Jason gave them both a look. “We just had a successful mission
here.Let’s not act like jerks.”

“That was Bricker’s idea!” Mike pointed at Dev.

“She.”Jess
corrected him. “Was Bricker’s idea.But no one here can say why.”She took a swallow of her drink.“Bain’s reason for wanting her here might be a whole other thing.”

“Bricker just didn’t buy into your bullshit mystique.”Sandy was unrepentant.“At least I don’t pretend to like you,
Jess, or kiss your ass for any reason unlike everyone else apparently.”

Dev was listening, her head swiveling to regard each
speaker. At this last, she turned and looked at Jess, then scanning down her
long form to her seat, then back up to her face. Her brow creased in
confusion.“You have a lot of
unusual customs.” She commented mildly.“Programming definitely didn’t cover that one.”

Jess started laughing, and Jason did too, and after a long,
frozen moment the rest of them reluctantly started to chuckle.

“There isn’t a dozen of her back there waiting to take
over.” Jess clarified.“So chill
out.Go yell at Bain if you want
to for her being here. It’s not her fault.”

Dev took a drink from her glass.She was not at all sure if she liked it, but everyone else
seemed to so she was willing to give it a try.

It was very strange and a little difficult being here with
all the other people.

The outer door opened and Stephen Bock came in. He stopped
to grab a drink from the tray that had been set up near the grouping of chairs
they were in, and sat down in an empty one.“So.” He looked at them. “You all done sniping at Jess and
being rude to her tech?”

“Fuck you Stephen.”Sandy said.

‘You want to be put on report for that?” Stephen asked.“I had to put up with your attitude
when I was an agent, Sandra.I
don’t have to now.”

“You don’t have the balls.”

“I do.” Stephen clicked his commset. “Please send a recorder
down here from ops.”He said. “I
have a disciplinary action to execute.”

Sandy stared at him. “You bastard.”

“Guess it’s different now that your sugar daddy got his head
blown off, huh?”Jason produced a
brief smile.“We all know that
wasn’t his ass you were kissing.”

“You all can go to hell.” Sandy got up, and her partner Todd
did too. He hadn’t said a word the entire time they’d been in the room, and
followed her in equal silence as she left the lounge.

“We’re going to go get cleaned up.” Mike also stood.“C’mon Nappy.”He glanced at Jess. “Thanks, Jess.All bullshit aside.” He extended his
big, muscled hand. “You put it out there for us.”

Jess returned the clasp, then released it. “Anytime.”

“Anyway.” Stephen looked tired.He looked over at Jess, who was sitting next to him. “Bain
wants to see you in a bout an hour.” He said. “We’ve gotten some interesting intelligence he want to review
with you.”

“Yes.” Dev responded immediately. “That would be nice.” She
put her cup down on the tray and stepped aside, as Jess came around her chair
and headed for the door.

“We’ll go too.”Jason stood up. “Been a long time since breakfast.Stephen? You up for chow? Been a damn
long day.”

They walked together through the hallways towards the dining
hall, as Stephen came along with them.Dev stuck close to Jess, but then, out of
the corner of her eye she saw Doctor Dan come out of a doorway and spot her.

His eyes lit up. He crossed the hallway and intercepted
them, the group slowing as he approached and watching him warily.“Congratulations.” He nodded at them,
then turned to Dev.“Excuse
us.”

The group moved on, leaving them behind.Dev did however, catch Jess looking back at her, the tall
woman’s eyebrows slightly lifted. “I’ll be right there.” She said, with a
little half wave.

Jess waved back, and pointed at the dining hall then ducked
inside.

Dev turned back around. “Hello, Doctor Dan.”

“Hello, Dev.” Doctor Dan leaned forward and gave her a hug.
“I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate you for your work today.”

Dev smiled.“It
was difficult.”

“I just bet it was.” Doctor Dan chuckled. “I saw the
recorder.You did an amazing job
for your first flight.”He put
both hands on her shoulders.“Really
good, Dev.Everyone thinks so.”

Dev glanced at the now dissappeeard group. “I don’t’ think
everyone does, Doctor Dan, but the person I was the pilot for was very pleased
with me, I believe.”

Doctor Dan’s gray eyes warmed as he looked at her. “Jess is
very pleased with you.” He said. “And she’s got a good reason to be.You achieved a very significant thing
together.”He glanced casually
around, but they were alone in the hall. “I’ll be going back to the crŹche
tomorrow, Dev.”

“I would trust Alex with my life, and have.”Doctor Dan said, in a serious tone.
“And you can too, but you can also trust Jess, and I hope she comes to trust
you.”

Dev hesitated, then she nodded again.“I hope she does.”She said. “I want to do good work for
her.” She watched Doctor Dan’s face, as he smiled gently.“People here sometimes aren’t nice.”

“I know.”Doctor Dan.“Be strong,
Dev.In the end, people who try to
hurt people like you, end up only hurting themselves. “ He let his hands drop.
“I have sent you my personal comms link to your quarters. Use it if you need
to. If you just want to talk or tell me something, do it.”

“Oh yeah, you’re staying.”Jess pushed a tray at her. “Later on I’ll show you around
the place the right way.”She picked up the tray and headed for a large table where the others
were sitting.She took a
seat and Dev took one beside her.

‘Lot of people coming in.”Jason said, glancing around. “All the prep people for the
new class.”He forked up some of
his fish.“Thought for a few days
they’d cancel it.”

“Yeah.” Elaine agreed. “Brent, don’t you know one of the
newbies?” She looked at the tech, a man of middling height and very black
hair.“I thought you said
you did”

Brent nodded. “Cousin of mine.” He admitted.“I tried to talk him out of it but the
jackass didn’t listen.”

Dev listened politely, as she chewed. The tray held some
different things than last time, a crispy cake she liked very much,some chewy protein she guessed was
probably fish, and some things in hard shells, which tasted salty.

“So. Um. Dev.”

Dev swallowed and looked up at Elaine, with a start of
surprise. “Yes?”

The agent leaned against the table. “I’ve always wanted to
ask this. What the hell is the collar for?”

“Oh.”Dev put
her fork down. “It’s a programming interface.” She said.“It gets installed right after you mostly
finish growing, when you start to get skills.”

“Ah huh.” Elaine said. “So, it’s a plug?”

“Not really.” Dev unsealed the neck of her suit and peeled
it down low enough to expose the collar. “There are leads that the programming
system connects to but then there are leads go up through the back of your neck
here..” She touched the back of her head.“And into your cortex.”

“They put wires in your brain?”Elaine said, after a pause.

“Yes.” Dev agreed. “It’s how they give us programs.”

“How do they do that?” Jason asked, curiously.

“I don’t know. I’m not a programmer.”Dev smiled briefly.“It’s a special skill, not many natural
born can do it. “

“Natural born.” Jess looked at her. “Is that what you call
us?”

“Yes.”

“Weird.” Jason shook his head.

They all went back to eating. Dev closed the collar on her
suit and took a sip of the pale fizzy drink, which she was getting to like, and
she felt okay about getting the questions since at least they were asking and
not just talking at her like they were before.

Jess shrugged. “Can’t be too bad. We all made it.” She said.
“Besides, one of the things I noticed going in was that we surprised them.”

Elaine was nodding, her mouth full.

“Felt like that to us too.” Jason said.“I expected we’d get ambushed…
hell, I told Elaine we were probably flying into a net coming around the side
of that ridge they were hiding under but it took them time to react and I
figured they didn’t know we were coming. “

“Which is strange.” Elaine said. “Because you know we don’t
usually leave our kind there in their clutches.If it had been me, I’d have expected us.”

Jess grunted. “Point.”

“Yeah.”Jason
frowned.“Hell, though, I’m not
going to look a gift horse in the ass.”

Dev made a mental note to access her pad when she got back
to her quarters and start looking up some of the odd verbal utterances she’d
heard so far from Jess and her other colleagues. She’d heard that thing about the horse twice now, so
she figured it had to mean something pretty important,

“So who else is coming in the class?” Elaine asked.“Twelve for us and?” She looked at
Jess. “Any idea?”

Jess scraped the last of the fish from her plate.“Repair chiefs, some security, and from
what I hear, a dozen of the biological guys for downstairs.”

“Huh.”

“There are some pilots and mechanics coming from the
crŹche.” Dev offered. “They were staging them when I left.” She added. “They
were talking about new vehicles.”

“Ah.” Jason was listening to her. “Finally! They’ve been
rebuilding those carriers since I was a baby.”

“Last year?” Elaine elbowed him.

“Shut up.” Jason elbowed her back.

“Good to see a new bus if it’s true.” Brent allowed. “So
many things are falling off mine I was afraid I’d tank someone on the deck when
we took off.”

“Yeah, if they give them to us, not the newbies.” Tucker
spoke up for the first time.“Member
what they said the last time, that they had to get the good stuff cause they
didn’t know better. We could handle all the crap.”

“Well.” Jess rested her elbows on the table and cradled her
mug in her hands. “Anyone tries to pull that bullshit line on me I just point
them at her.” She pointed at Dev.“They didn’t come any newer than she did this morning.”

Tucker and Brent gave Dev a grudging nod.“Yeah that’s true I guess.”
Tucker said. “Sides what your rig looked like when you got back I figure they’d
got to build it up from base steel anyhow.”

They finished lunch and filtered out the door, most heading
for the residential quarters on the next ring of hallways outward.Dev walked quietly along at
Jess’s side, as it got quieter and quieter when the two other teams peeled off
to their rooms.

Jess and Dev’s quarters were, Dev realized, at the end of
the half ring hall. Right across
from them was the entrance to the ops center,it’s outline grid a sedate blue unlike the raw red of the
previous day.

Shepaused as
she went past Jess’s door towards her own, to absorb the idea that this place
was, now, for her, a home.

For now long? She didn’t know. But she had passed the first
test of this new assignment and earned herself a continued presence with the
possibility of a longer term stay.

“Hey, Dev?”

Dev turned, to find Jess in her doorway. “Yes?”

“Change then come over.I want you to come see Bain with me.”

Ah. Hm. The man with the gun. “Okay.” Dev agreed.

Jess came over and leaned against the wall, folding her arms
across her chest. “Don’t let the jackassery get to you.”

Dev looked at her, blinking a few times.“Is that… supposed to refer to
the rude attitude?”

Jess nodded. “We’re all pretty hard on each other.Sandy and I never got along.”

“No problem.” Dev said.

“Does it bother you?” Jess asked, in a quiet tone.

“Does it bother you?” Dev returned the question.

The tall, dark haired woman studied her in silence for a
long moment.“Hmp.” She finally
grunted. “Damn good question.” She turned and headed back to her door.“Very damn good question.”

Dev waited until the door closed, then she turned and went
to her own quarters, scanning through and letting the heavy panel slid shut
behind her.She stopped and looked
around, taking in the room with a fresh set of eyes.

On the workspace, there was a packet, and some covered pads,
delivered when she was on the mission, apparently. So this, for now, was home.She bypassed the table and headed for the sanitary space,
already looking forward to the wet thing, and fresh clothes, and the tour Jess
had promised her for later.

Today had, after all, turned out to be a really, really,
really good day.

**

Dev looked up as she heard a buzz at the door.She got up and went to it, triggering
the latch and stepped back as the door slid open and Jess entered. She was
dressed in one of the more casual jumpsuits, with fewer pockets and softer
fabric.

Dev had realized that there were a few different kinds of
garb. One was this type,and she
was wearing the same now too, and another was the kind shehad worn to pilot the carrier which was
a heavier fabric, with clips and embedded links for the carrier’s systems to
plug into.

She liked the lighter one.It was very comfortable. She’d made a note to ask Jess about
the sleeping clothes though. “Hello.”

“Ready?” Jess’s eyes swept briefly over the interior. She spotted the packet on the workspace
and walked over to it. “You open this?”

“No.” Dev said. “I didn’t know what it was.”

Jess worked the clamp and opened the padded envelope.“C’mere.” She shook out the contents
into her hand then turned as Dev approached.“Last bit of archaic crap we use.” She reached up and
took hold of Dev’s jumpsuit collar.

Dev stood stock still, not really sure what was going on. She could feel the warmth of Jess’s
fingers against her skin , though, and she decided it felt nice.

“There.” Jess let her hands fall, producing a brief smile as
Dev gave her a questioning look. “It’s like the one I have.” She touched the
insignia on her collar. “Except the bottom enamel strips are green instead of
black.”

“Oh.” Dev reached up to feel the item now fastened to her
suit.“Thank you.”

“It doesn’t mean anything except that you’re one of us.”
Jess said. “I guess when we coded
you in as ops tech, it triggered the whole process so that included this.” She
picked up a few other items that had dropped out of the packet. “This is your
chit card.”

Dev studied it. “Okay.”

“When you go on missions, you get credits.” Jess explained.
“You can take this and go to the exchange, and trade the credits for stuff.”

“Stuff?”

“Stuff. You know, like…” Jess paused. “Well, I guess you
probably don’t know.Nevermind,
I’ll take you there and show you. It’s easier than explaining.”

“Okay.” Dev replied amiably.

“You can also use it at dinner for drinks or extras, which
I’ll show you today too.”Jess
concluded. “And this pad template – you can specify what you want in here
and supply will take care of it for you. Like something other than crackers for
the dispenser or a different temperature profile.”

“Okay.”Dev
said.

“You can put the card in your ident pack.”Jess said. “Okay? So let’s go talk to
Bain. I want to get your status clarified before I have to go and have back
alley fights with everyone I work with.” She turned and led the way to the
door.

What did that mean? Dev wondered.She followed Jess through the hallways, passing the
ops center and continuing around the curve into a gray shaded hallway she
hadn’t been in yet.This one had two scans, which she felt
as an itchy tingle as they went through.

At the end of the hallway was a shielded door, guarded by
two big security officers.They
regarded her and Jess as they approached, and only at the very end did they
move aside and key the door open.

Jess ignored them.“Thank you.” Dev murmured as she went by, seeing a pair of pale blue
eyes half hidden in a blast helmet regarding her before the man turned and face
forward again.

They walked into a small outer office, and the door behind
them closed.Jess stood quietly
before the inner door, looking around a little as a soft sets of bings and
clicks sounded, then the inner door opened.

“Ah.” Bain was seated behind a big desk, watching as they
entered. “ Right on time, Drake. And I see you brought your charming companion
with you.” He got up and came around the desk, extended his hand to Dev.
“Hello, my dear.You are very
welcome to this meeting.”

Dev politely shook his hand. “Thank you, sir.”

“You did some excellent work.” Bain told her.“Extraordinary, for your first flight,
hm?

“I did the best I could.” Dev smiled. “I’m very glad it all
worked out correctly.”

“Yes.”Bain
went back behind the desk and gestured for them to sit down in the two chairs
in front of it.“Well, Drake,
looks like your plan succeeded.” He steepled his fingers. “Hm?All of you returned and I’ve gotten some
intelligence here that indicates you left some.. hm… consternation shall we say
behind you?” He pushed a folder across the desk.

Jess took it, and flipped through the plastic like sheets
inside.“Ah.” She grunted. “So
that’s what that ledge was.”

“Hm. Yes.”Bain
nodded. “Plasma station. Took out quite a quarter of the mountain face when it
exploded.I daresay you left your
mark.”

Wow.Jess
sounded the word silently in her head.She selected a grainy picture and passed it to Dev. “Big boom.”

Dev studied the picture.For a moment, it was a blank, then suddenly the memory
flashes popped in, and she recalled the high speed dive past the cliff. She
tried to tie in that memory with the picture, which showed a huge hole where
the ledge had been.

“Well done.” Bain said. “I would guess you’ve set them back
quite a bit, Drake. Sure you ddin’t make any more friends on that side though.”

“Mm.”Jess
gruned.“Wasn’t the lab they had
the new growth experiment in though.”

“Ah, no.”Bain
agreed. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you.That needs to be addressed. I want you to do it.”

Jess closed the folder.“Two days ago I wasn’t even cleared for active duty.” She
said. “One day ago I was being processed out.”

“And?” Bain cocked his head at her.

“There’s probably a better choice than me to take on a new
mission.”

“I disagree.” Bain shook his head. “I realize you were
involved in several very stressful incidents, but given the resources we have
right now, I cannot recommend another in your place.” He watched her
expression. “Besides,your wish to
leave us was all based around the presence of your new associate here, and I
believe you have, as they say, gotten over that.”

Jess pondered this.“Yeah, now both her and I are taking crap from every direction because
of it.”

“Indeed?”

“Indeed.”Jess
said.“This started off as a hair
brained scheme by Bricker.Everyone knew it.Now
everyone needs to know what the deal is.”

“Hm.”Bain
tapped his fingertips against his lips.“My view is, yes, it was a hair brained scheme that unlikely as it was,
worked.”He said. “The people up
at LifeSource took him seriously, and gave our friend here what skills they
could in so short a time, and this morning it was amply demonstratedthat their cobbled together effort performed
as well as any of our training programs could.”

“That’s true.” Jess agreed.

“Hm. Well then.” Bain “I have decided to inform everyone
that Bricker was making that request on my orders.” He said. “I never mind
taking credit for someone elses insane ideas so long as they prove out, hm?”

“I see.”Jess
said, slowly.

‘So then this becomes my idea, and my plan.”Bain gave Dev a s mile. “Since it has
already proven to be a success. We will instruct LIfeSource to continue on
developing this program, and will hopefully be able to use it’s results in the
future.”

Dev shifted a little. “Excuse me, sir.” She said. “Is it
really a good idea to presume success based on so limited an evidence?”

Both Jess and Bain stared at her.

“Do you doubt your abilities, my young friend?” Bain asked.

“Yes.” Dev said. “I havent’ seen that much of them. “ She
explained. “I trust the programming they gave me, but you are risking a lot on
untested skills.”

Jess half turned in her seat so she was facing Dev. “You
don’t want to stay here?”

Jess felt the lengthening silence as she studied the young,
intense face next to her.Finally
she took a breath. “I’ll take my chances.”She said, shifting to look back at Bain, who was watching
them both with an expression of bemused interest. “If you do this, you need to do it all the way. Give her full
status.Let everyone know. Then
they’ll stop taking shots at her.”

Bain tapped his fingertips together again. “Agent Drake.” He
said. “I certainly can send any amount of directives but I think it will take more
than that for your new comrade to be accepted.” He gave her a meaningful look,
one scrubby gray eyebrow hiking up.

Jess looked away, then back at him. “You do your part, I’ll
do mine.”

Bain smiled. “Deal.” He said. “Now, about that mission?”

Jess settled back in her seat.“We can’t do a frontal assault again. They’ll be keyed to
it. I’ll need to insert.”

Bain nodded.

“Send me all the intel.”Jess finally said.“I’ll work up something.”

“Splendid.” The old man gave her a fond look. “Now, fora more pleasant subject.In recognition of your performance in
this morning’s rescue I have added a senior level achievement to your records.”

Jess’s eyebrows rose.

“And I have advanced a benefit and comfort package to your
colleague.” Bain pointed a forefinger atDev. “Since I know she came from the crŹche with very little.Enjoy it, my dear.”

Dev had no idea what he was talking about, but it sounded
good. “Thank you sir.” She said. “I will continue trying to do my best.”

Bain leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “Thank
you.” He said.“People, we were in
a serious crisis point yesterday.I’m glad we made our way through it, but we’re not out of the woods
yet.Intelligence showed us that
in this case, Agent Drake, there was no leak of information regarding your
attack.”

“Not that I could tell, no.”Jess agreed. “But does that mean we snuffed the leak, or
they’re just in hiding, biding their time?”

Bain inclined his head.

“The key is, who turned Joshua.”Jess continued. “Was it someone on the outside or someone on
the inside.” She looked Bain in the eye. “I don’t think Bricker had the brains
for it.”

Bain smiled faintly.“He was my nephew.”

Only years of field service let Jess remain in her chair and
not roll onto the floor.She knew
her eyes had widened and she clamped her jaw to keep it from dropping.

“My sister’s son.”Bain went on, in a reflective tone.“She gave him over when he was five.I never thought he really did have the
brains for it either, but he made it through the course.” He sniffed. “I agree
with you, Drake.I don’t think he
was the leak, and he wasn’t the one who turned tech Joshua.”

“So that person’s still here, if it was an inside job.”

“You think it was.”

Jess gazed at him. “I spent almost every waking moment with
him for nine years on the outside of this facility.No one outside got close to him.”

“Hm.”

“But inside?” Jess went on.“That was different.”

Bain sighed. “I have security doing an investigation on it.”
He admitted.“Very low key.”He turned to Dev. “You will let us
know, won’t you my dear, if anyone asks you to do something against us?”

“Yes.” Dev answered immediately. “That’s wrong.”

“Is that what your programming tells you?”He cocked his head slightly.

Dev thought about that for a minute.“They gave me the rules.” She said,
after a bit. “But this ..I think
that’s an in here thing.” She touched her chest. “It feels wrong.”

“Hm.”Bain
nodded in approval. “Very good.” He focused back on Jess.“Be on your way, Drake.I’m sure you have things to
settle.I’ll have intelligence send
you an info pack, and will expect your review in the very near term.”

Jess nodded and stood. “Thanks.” She said. “I’ll let you know
what I think.”

Bain chuckled. “Of that I have no doubt.”He sat back as they left, resting his
elbows on the chair arm and twiddled his thumbs. “Dj?”

Doctor Dan came out from behind the big console behind them
and came around to sit in the chair his bio alt had so recently vacated.“Well?”

The scientist shook his head. “No.” He said. “I’d been
planning to introduce the idea to you, so I’d done the prep with Dev.” He
added.“The last set of tech
skills, yes, that was a rush.We
had to write that on the fly, but I had the schema outlines already done.”

Bain nodded. “I think she’ll do well She has an interesting
mix of intelligence and given knowledge.”

“She’s a good design.” Doctor Dan agreed.“She won’t turn, by the way. They’ll
have to kill her first. The one thing about the way I engineered her logic
structure that wasn’t entirely logical.”

‘I’m sure she’ll be fine with Drake.” Bain stood up.“She’s already taken up a protective
stance over your protégée as well as having been sufficiently distracted to
allow her to get past that recent disaster.”

“She’s good people.” Doctor Dan said, as he joined Bain and
they both disappeared behind the console, through a hidden door and into a quiet
hallway. “I think Dev will do very well with her.”

“Hm.” Bain eyed him. “Sure you don’t want a job?”

Doctor Dan smiled a little. “I have a job.”

Bain snorted.

**

“So I suppose I really am staying.” Dev said, as they walked
along the corridor.“That was a
very interesting meeting.”

“I told you that you were staying.” Jess chuckled. “Yeah, it
was.” She admitted. “We’ll have to go back and see what kind of swag we
got.I’m glad he put you in for
something.” She stepped into the lift, and waited for Dev to join her. “Let’s
start at the top, and work our way down.”

“I’m not sure what that means.” Dev confessed.“But it sounds nice.”

“Here’s the roof.”Jess led the way out of the lift to a huge open space, with solid glass
covering all of it.Overhead the
thick, dark clouds were drifting, and once they’d cleared the lift encasement
they could see all around them out to the horizon.

Dev turned
around in a circle, looking at the vast, open barrenness on one side, and then
out across what was now becoming a familiar venue of open ocean.

“When the new class comes in, we’ll all gather here for the
induction ceremony.” Jess told her. “With any luck I’ll get you started on the
right foot with them and we can work from there.”

“It’s difficult isn’t it?” Dev said. “

“Hm.”Jess
looked at her. “Would it be easier for you if you stayed down with the rest of
the bios?”

Dev put her hands behind her back. “Of course it would”

“Do you want to do that?”

“No.” Dev replied without hesitation.

Jess smiled.“Good.” She waved her hand. “Let’s go.I’ll show you the gym and the rad facility, that’s on the
next floor, and then we can go past the reference center and stop in at the
exchange.”

“For the stuff?”

“Yeah, we’ll get some stuff. “

**

They had, in fact, gotten stuff.Dev sat cross legged on her bed, surveying the
items around her with a sense of bemusement.She had learned a lot of new concepts including what
rad was and why it was important to her, what the concept of luxury was, and
the answer to the mystery of what to sleep in.

It was a little overwhelming.Dev looked around her living space. Now not only did
she have this place but she had another place, sort of like the little cubicle
in the crŹche, where she could study and do research while she was getting her
required dose of sun replacement.

She had more space to herself here than anyone topside, even
the most important people.It was
amazing and a little strange, but she suspected she’d get used to it after a
while.

Now, this stuff.Dev sorted among the items.The exchange was full of stuff that Jess had called luxuries, items that
were not given to them, but must be earned.This included stuff from topside, she was surprised to see
and she’d gotten a package of the little sweet puffs they’d eaten on rare
occasions in the crŹche.

You could also get things to wear, and Jess had told her it
was easy to see the most successful agents and techs because they didn’t wear
jumpsuits in off-time – they wore some of the things you could get in the
exchange or – this was very interesting – things they bartered for
in the living spaces outside.

For now, Dev had gotten a few pairs of soft short leggings
and sleeveless shirts to sleep in, as that’s what Jess told her she used.She set those aside and the
puffs, and pulled over the box she’d found when she’d gotten back.

That was from the man with the gun, Jess had told her.The box was full of things like
insulated drink containers and a pack she could take on the carrier with her
with compartments to carry things in. It had straps and hooks that would fasten
to the console near her seat.

It was nice.She liked it. There was also a folding tool she could use to get into
hatches, that also had a knife in it – she’d seen Jess carry one and a thing to wear that was thick and
heavy and had a hood that was very warm when she put it on.

A jacket, Jess had called it, for when they were outside and
had to leave the carrier.

Very interesting.

Next, she removed a sanitary kit she could take in the
carrier also.It had wipes and
little bottles of something you could put onyour skin and mouth rinse.She could, Jess had told her, order more for it when
she’d used it all.

Also very interesting.

Dev got up and found places for all her new stuff, in the
drawers of the big cabinet mostly.Once that was done, she picked up her book from her workspace and
climbed up into the relaxing area and sat down on the couch.

She had some time before Jess came back and she settled back
in the couch, opening the book and reading from where she’d left off.

**

Jess finished requesting data, then she logged off the intel
system and sat down at the small desk, using a stylus to make a few notes on
the folder she was carrying.She wrote in silence for a few minutes, then glanced up as the door behind
her opened.

Shit. She cursed silently. “HelloJared.”

The tall, spare medical director came over and sat in the
seat next to her.“How long
did you figure on ignoring the request to med?”

“I’ve been busy.” Jess said, continuing to scribble.
“Besides, what would be the point?Bain put me back into service. He ranks you.”

“Yeah and I heard what he does to people who disagree with
him.”Jared spared a brief
smile.“I wouldn’t have said no to
him either.But you still have a
hold on your chart – want to spend ten minutes with me and get it cleared
legit?”

Jess checked the time on the console. “If its only ten
minutes, sure.” She finished writing and stood up. “I’ve got an appointment to
get to.”

She followed Jared down thehall, out of the gray section into the white, passing suite
after suite of examination and operation rooms most fortunately now not in
use.She’d spent her time in
those rooms and like any other agent hated the place.

Jared led her into a small exam room, the one she knew was
right next to his offices.She sealed and put the folder down on the desk and lay down on the exam
table, feeling the warmth and tickle of the diagnostic systems.

“You look like
you’re feeling better.” Jared commented, from behind the console. “Your back
still giving you problems?”

“For anyone.She’s a nice kid.We’re
getting along pretty well.” Jess responded.“Bain’s just sending orders down to make her permanent.”

“I saw. I got them.”Jared said. “I want to see her too, to get a baseline. You think that’s
going to work?Most people I
talked to didn’t.”

Jess half shrugged. “Most people you’ve talked to haven’t
worked with her.They think bios
are walking jelly bag brains.Dev isn’t.She’s not one of
us, but she’s not one of them either.”

“Huh. You sure that’s not just wishful thinking?”

“Talk to her and form your own opinion.” Jess said. “Done
now? I’ve got places to go and people to see.”

Jared leaned against the table.“I’m done.You
look like you’re finally on the right track again, Jess. You had me worried
there for a few weeks.Maybe
everything going to shit was good for you.”

Jess smiled wryly. “Kicked my head out of my ass, you mean.”
She interpreted. ‘Yeah, maybe.At
least I’m not upchucking all night from nightmares.”

“No you aren’t.” He turned off the scanner. “Your
bodyweight’s stopped dropping.I’m
going to release you officially so they don’t have to keep overriding me from
ops.” He said, in a droll tone.“Nice to know just exactly how much authority I really have.”

Jess sat up and swung her long legs off the table.“Don’t feel bad, Jared.Bain steam rolled over pretty much
everything but then – he’s the old man.”

“Yes, he is.”The medico agreed. “A lot of people got the shit scared out of them by
him.No one expected … I mean, you
hear the stories and all that, but no one thought he’d just come in here and
start shooting.”

“No.” Jess retrieved her folder. “But he did.”

“What I’m wondering now is – will he stay here, or is
he going to pick someone to replace Bricker?” Jared watched her face
closely.“What do you think?”

Jess shrugged both shoulders. “I’m just an agent.I try to think as little as possible.”
She turned and headed for the door.

“Senior agent, now.”

Jess looked back over her shoulder and grinned, then she
went through the door and was gone.

**

The dining hall was almost empty when Jess and Dev entered
it.None of the other agents or
techs were there, just a few console operators from the ops center nearby,
andalone in the corner, Stephen
Bock.

Jess gave him a casual wave as she took a seat at a small
table and motioned Dev to do the same.“So here’s how this works.” She said.“That screen shows you what’s available
tonight.You tap on what you want,
and they deliver it.”

“I see.”Dev
regarded the screen.“Why do they
do that, if they make you go pick it up the rest of the time?”

“Tradition.”Jess said. “There are some
things we do… just because that’s the way we’ve always done them and no one
wants to change it because it meant something way back when.”She keyed something into the pad. “I’ll
throw a few credits at this.”

Dev studied her choices, and made her selection. Then she folded her hands on the table
and regarded her tablemate.“Is it
something like these?” She touched the insignia at her neck.

“Something like that.” Jess agreed. “You’ll see more of the
traditional stuff when we attend the incoming ceremony for the new class.”She smiled. “I remember when it was me
up there.I”d never seen any place
like this before.”

Dev pondered that. “We have… I guess it’s sort of like that
when we graduate from basic learning.” She said. “We all come into a big room,
and they take record of all our designations and where we would be going for
advanced classes.”

“Yeah.” Jess nodded. “I had that in school.”

“Then they took us all to medical and had our collars
installed.” Dev touched her throat.“They said we were all grown up then.”

Jess leaned her chin on her fist. “So… they don’t do that
special programming with you until you’re older?”She looked up as a bio alt waitservant approached, with a
tray. “Thanks.”

The man placed the drink she’d ordered on the table, and
then, with the barest hesitation, put a second one in front of Dev.

“Thank you.” Dev looked up at him.

The man nodded, then he straightened and went back into the
preparation area.

Jess snorted and shook her head.

“That’s a Ceebee 245.” Dev commented. “They do that –
the serving thing, up in the crŹche too, for the natural borns in the fancy
places.”

“They do?”

“Yes.”Dev
said. “They don’t give us any programming until we graduate basic.They teach us the regular way before
that.Reading, and writing, and
basic skills.”

“Huh.” Jess sipped her drink.“I guess that’s not too different from how I grew up.I was in pre school until I was five,
and they gave us the aptitude battery.”She said. “Then they sent me to the academy, on my sixth birthday.”

Dev took a sip of the glass she’d been given finding a
medium fizzy beverage with a taste that reminded her of the soy nuts that had
sometimes been served in the crŹche. “What is this?”

“Beer.”Jess
said. “Like it?”

Dev tasted it again. “I think so.”She said, after a pause. “So what did they teach you at the
academy? Is that where all of the people here went?”

“What did they
teach me.” Jess mused. “I hardly remember.Like you said, reading and writing I suppose. Some math, geography.History. How we got to be in the
situation we’re in, that sort of thing, for classes.” She paused, as the server
came back and put down their plates.“Then at… I guess around age ten they start teaching us the business.”
She lifted her hand and made a circle over her head, encompassing the structure
around them.

“So, you knew you wanted to do this?” Dev cut a bit of the
fish on her plate and put it in her mouth.

“Wasn’t given a choice.”Jess was plowing through her meal.

Dev stopped chewing. “Really?”

Jess looked up at her. “Really.”She washed her mouthful down with a swallow of the
beer.“Didn’t really want a
choice, that’s what the battery is for.My family’s been doing this for ever, so when I tested high it was a
foregone conclusion that I’d go, and I’d graduate, and I’d come to a place like
this and do what we do.”

“Wow.”Dev took
another sip of the fizzy beverage.“So all the other people we work with, the ones we went on the mission
with, they all did that too?”

“Not exactly.The
agents, me, and Elaine, Jason, Sandy… we all did.So did Stephen over there, and the guy who got his head
taken off.Anyone who wears the
black bars like I do.They do the
whole course, from childhood.”Jess explained. “The techs, like Brent, come in around your age.They get schooled on the outside, and
if they pass the tests and the background checks and the psych, they get
admitted.” She forked up some of the fish and ate it. “Damn, that’s good.”

“Oh.”Dev was
also enjoying the taste.“So that’s
why I heard someone call them outsiders?”

“Yes.”Jess
nodded.“They come to what we call
field school.During that, they
get matched to an agent, and then sent out as a team usually with a couple
others to someplace like this.”

None of this had been in the programming, Dev realized. Only
the rules and regulations of Interforce, and the technical knowledge she’d need
to do the job.

“There are always more techs than agents.” Jess said, after
a short silence.“We get in the
way of blasters more often.” She gave Dev a wry wink.“But we can choose to leave. I almost did the other day.”

Dev had put her utensils down when he’d started speaking and
now she nodded. “Thank you.” She said, politely.“I’m glad I was able to contribute to good results.”

“Well, you did a good job, and I hope we can trust you to
keep Jess’s ass out of the fire again in the future.”Stephen said.

Dev looked at him, then she glanced at Jess, as one eyebrow
hiked up. “They didn’t cover that
in the programming either.” She apologized. “I’m not really sure what to do
with your ass.”

Jess hastily swallowed what was in her mouth and clapped her
hand over it, snorting and then dissolving into laughter.

Stephen covered his eyes, and sat down in the seat abruptly.

Dev regarded them with mild amusement until they recovered
their composure.“Sorry about
that.” She apologized. “I don’t really understand some of the things you say
sometimes.I have a few I need to
look up in the reference library later on.”

“What he meant was.”Jess cleared her throat and wiped a tear from her eye.“He expects you to keep me out of
trouble.”

Dev pondered that, taking a sip of her beer. “Isn’t our job
to get into trouble?”

Stephen started chuckling again.“You really do have a sense of humor.” He complimented
her.“But I think Jess would have
said, your job is to cause trouble.” He rubbed his eyes. “Ah well, it’s
been a day.” He let his hands rest on his knees.“Recap tomorrow, Jess?”

“See you in ops.” Jess agreed, giving him a nod as he got up
and headed for the door to the hall. After the door closed behind him, she looked back at Dev.
“You can just ask if you don’t understand what the hell I’m saying, y’know.”

Dev smiled as she finished up her meal.“I will next time.” She said.
“Sometimes I can guess what it is by the conversation around it, but all the
stuff about horses and asses and things confuses me. “

Jess chuckled again. “You’re so damn funny.”

“Is it? I mean.. am I?” Dev put her utensils down. “I wasn’t
trying to be that time.”She
paused, and looked up as the server came back again, putting down a final set
of plates. They contained a square of dark brown substance, which she studied
as the man removed the other plates. “Thank you.”

“Ahhh. “ Jess pulled over her own plate. “Now that’s a rare
treat.I didn’t think they were
doing these until the induction ceremony.”

“They were testing them, ma’am.” The server replied quietly.
“We were instructed to give them to all the patrons here tonight.” He turned
and disappeared again.

“Hey, wait.”Jess called after him. “Bring us over some kack, then.These don’t go with beer.” She broke
off a corner of the substance and popped it into her mouth. “Mm.”

Dev tentatively did the same, mouthing the substance as her
eyes opened wide. “Oh.”She
blinked. “Wow. What is that?”

“It’s called a brownie.” Jess was busy with her own. “I
guess because it’s brown.” She regarded the item. “One of the very few things
from the old times they can still make, though I think they make it now with
rice flour from the paddy caverns and gulls eggs.” She looked up. “Like it?”

“Yes.” Dev answered immediately. “It’s really nice.”

Jess looked up, then looked around carefully. ‘Want to see
if we can steal whatever’s left back there?”’

Dev looked up from her plate. “I thought I was supposed to
keep you out of trouble?”